e of the
confused jumble and crush we have had, we got on to neve slopes;
huge billows, half a mile to a mile from crest to crest, meshed with
crevasses...

"We all had falls into these during the day: Harrisson dropping fifteen
feet. I received rather a nasty squeeze through falling into a hole
whilst going downhill, the sledge running on to me before I could get
clear, and pinning me down. So far as we can see, the same kind of
country continues, and one cannot help thinking about having to return
through this infernal mess. The day's distance--only one thousand and
fifty yards.

"Wednesday, November 27. When I wrote last night about coming back,
I little thought it would be so soon. We turn back to-morrow for the
simple reason that we cannot go on any farther.

"In the morning, for nearly a mile along a valley running south-east,
the travelling was almost good; then our troubles commenced again.

"Several times we had to resort to hand-hauling with the alpine rope
through acres of pitfalls. The bridges of those which were covered were
generally very rotten, except the wide ones. Just before lunch we had
a very stiff uphill pull and then a drop into a large basin,
three-quarters of a mile in diameter.

"The afternoon was spent in vain searching for a road.... On every side
are huge waves split in every direction by crevasses up to two hundred
feet in width. The general trend of the main crevasses is north and
south....

"I have, therefore, decided to go back and if possible follow the road
we came by, then proceed south on to the inland ice-cap and find out the
source of this chaos. If we are able to get round it and proceed east,
so much the better; but at any rate, we shall be doing something and
getting somewhere. We could push through farther east from here, but it
would be by lowering the gear piecemeal into chasms fifty to one hundred
feet deep, and hauling it up on the other side; each crevasse taking
at least two hours to negotiate. For such slow progress I don't feel
justified in risking the lives of the party."

Snow fell for four days, at times thickly, unaccompanied by wind. It was
useless to stir in our precarious position. Being a little in hand in
the ration of biscuits, we fed the dogs on our food, their own having
run out. I was anxious to keep them alive until we were out of the
pressure-ice.

From this, our turning-point out on the shelf-ice, the trail lay over
eighteen inches of soft sno